Conference Session

Design Communications & Cognition II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Barbara A. Karanian, Stanford University, Wentworth Institute of Technology; Gregory Kress, Stanford University; Tessa Price, Stanford University; Regina Getz-Kikuchi, Stanford University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

IMVU environmentPower Linked to responses that express a sense of self-worth or self-confidence,(PO) including power motivesUser Tracks the extent to which a user is personally invested in IMVU (in terms ofIntensity time, money, etc.)(IN)2.2 Coding/AnalysisQuestions (whenever possible) were coded to reflect an integer score between -2 and 2 forSociality and Activity, and between 0 and 2 for Power and User Intensity. For a given variable,the coding is assigned with zero representing “definitely not,” one representing “arguably so,”and two representing “definitely so.” For example, a response indicating that a person prefersto chat with big groups is a definite indicator of connectivism

Conference Session

Digital Technologies and Learning

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Hergenrader, University of Southern California, Information Sciences Institute; Joanna Drummond, University of Pittsburgh; Jihie Kim, University of Southern California

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

𝐾  =   1 − 𝑝expectedWith 1.0 as a maximum, Kappa scores of approximately 0.70 and above indicate goodagreement13. As seen in Table 1, the results reflected quite good consistency between the twosemester data sets. Scores at the category level are similarly high, indicating agreement if aphrase was or was not tagged with any contained speech act by both annotators. Also includedare the speech act tag descriptions and sample phrases seen in posts. Speech Act Tag Description Sample Cue Phrases Kappa Question Category Represents a question N/A 0.94 A

Conference Session

FPD IV: Improving Student Success: Mentoring, Intervening, and Supplementing

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frederick L. Smyth, University of Virginia; William H Guilford, University of Virginia; Brian A. Nosek, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

BFigure 1: Example of one of the IATs delivered in this study. See the text for a detaileddescription. Page 22.718.3(standard deviation) of their response times to yield an effect size score similar to a Cohen’s d 22.The IAT has detected gender differences in STEM attitudes and predicted real-world STEMoutcomes such as calculus performance 10,14, and countries’ gender-gaps in teenagers’ scienceand math achievement 23.An example of the sort of IAT we employed can be experienced by entering the Demonstrationportal at https://implicit.harvard.edu/. The “Gender-Science” IAT is reflected in Figure 1. Thisonline 10-minute evaluation session is used

Conference Session

FPD XI: Assessing First-Year Programs, Experiences, and Communities

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie C. Paretti, Virginia Tech; Kelly J. Cross, Virginia Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Page 22.240.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Assessing First-Year Programs: Outcomes, Methods, and FindingsAbstractFirst-year programs reflect a wide array of approaches, from general engineering programs todiscipline-specific introductions to the major spanning one or two semesters; many of theseprograms have published descriptions of their approaches to assessment and the effects ofvarious intervention strategies on student retention or specialized outcomes. Yet much of thiswork remains localized; little research to date has examined assessment across multiple programsto identify large-scale trends, locate similarities and differences in targeted learning outcomes,analyze methods of

Conference Session

Information Literacy: Theory and Practice

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Libraries

2Strongly Disagree or Unacceptable 1 Page 22.254.10APPENDIX D: W.S.U. CRITICAL THINKING RUBRIC Source: http://wsuctproject.wsu.edu/ctr.htm 1. Identifies, summarizes (and appropriately reformulates) the problem/question/work assignment.This dimension focuses on task or issue identification, including subsidiary, embedded, or implicitaspects of an issue and the relationships integral to effective analysis. 2. Identifies and considers the influence of context and assumptions.This dimension focuses on scope and context, and considers audience of the analysis. Context includesrecognition of the relative nature of context and assumptions, the reflective

Conference Session

Student Learning and Assessment I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas J. Vasko, Central Connecticut State University; Nidal Al-Masoud, Central Connecticut State University; Peter F. Baumann, Central Connecticut State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

lifelong learner must possess: curiosity represents the depth ofexploration; initiative measures the ability to generate new ideas or solutions; independence is anindicator of self-learning; transfer appraises the ability to build on previous knowledge;reflection is “in depth reviews of prior learning experiences both inside and outside of theclassroom to reveal significantly changed perspectives about educational and life experiences”11.The purpose of the survey question was to explore the mindset of students about these requiredskills. While most students agree, in general, that all of these skills are fundamental to a lifelonglearner, it was surprising that one third of the class downplayed independence when compared tothe other attributes

Conference Session

Mechanical and Architectural Engineering Laboratories

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nancy K Lape, Harvey Mudd College; David L Harris, Harvey Mudd College; Matthew Joseph Keeter, Harvey Mudd College; Madeleine S Ong, Harvey Mudd College; Zachary Dodds, Harvey Mudd College

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

) • building a reaction timer game • building a “Simon says” memory game • generating Gold codes • detecting Gold codesIn Lab 5, students assembled a gearbox kit and mounted motors and gears on their chassis. Theysoldered resistors on their Mudduino board to interface with an IR reflectance sensor and aphototransistor. They attached a connector to their battery pack, stacked the battery and boardon the chassis, and bolted the whole robot together, as shown in Figure 4. In Lab 6, studentslearned to control the robot in C. They developed their own library of motor control functions.They learned to read the sensors, and programmed the robot to drive toward a light, stopping if itwere about to dive off the lab bench. They attempted to drive in

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching: Statics

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anna Dollar, Miami University; Ronald R. Ulseth, Itasca Community College; Paul S. Steif, Carnegie Mellon University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

that informs just-in-time changes of instruction describedbelow.)3.2 Detailed Quiz ReportsWhile an overall quiz grade itself is useful for awarding a grade, for instruction to reflect quizresults in an “inverted-classroom”, the instructor needs to know how students answeredindividual quiz questions, at least in an aggregate way. OLI provides such feedback toinstructors. As an example, an excerpt from the Module 7 Quiz Report is shown in Figure 3. Page 22.291.4 3Fig. 2 Screenshot of Gradebook Page 22.291.5 4Page 22.291.6 5

Conference Session

Focus on Entry Experiences in Chemical Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey Heys, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

persevered7.Another source of beliefs about problem solving is from our cultural background. Studiesindicate that people in the U.S. are much more likely than the Japanese to believe that innateability (as opposed to effort) underlies children's success in mathematics12. Schoenfeld madetwo important observations based on the results of these studies7. “First, parents and students who believe ‘either you have it or you don't’ are much less likely to encourage students to work hard on mathematics than those who believe ‘you can do it if you try.’ Second, our nation's textbooks reflect our uniformly low expectations of students: ‘U.S. elementary textbooks introduce large numbers at a slower pace than do Japanese, Chinese

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James D. Bowen, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Peter Thomas Tkacik, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Kimberly Warren, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

of the discipline-specific Introduction to Engineering courses taught in the second semester of the freshman year.In Civil and Environmental Engineering, as part of our implementation of initiative 5 above, wewill begin to offer an environmental-themed culminating project that hopefully retains thedesirable features of the existing design project but broadens the overall course content. The development of this new design project provides an opportunity for reflection on thesimilarities and differences between our freshman engineering course and other freshmanprograms offered elsewhere. It also provides an opportunity for assessment of our experiencewith the existing course. Our course has many of the features of other freshman

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratories

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mohammad N. Amin, National University; Ronald P. Uhlig, National University; Pradip Peter Dey, National University; Bhaskar Raj Sinha, National University

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

students with the tools necessary to achieveprofessional success in both theoretical and practical aspects of the field of wirelesscommunication and to prepare them for lifelong learning in a field that will be in a state ofcontinual advancement throughout their lifetimes14. This program prepares graduates foremployment in research organizations, computer centers, and wireless communicationsbusinesses and enterprises. All MSWC program missions are reflected in the MSWC programoutcomes, which are designed to ensure that MSWC graduates are proficient in analytical,technical, and critical thinking skills, that they have a sense of professionalism, and that they are

Conference Session

A Global Engineer: International and Domestic Engineer

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isaac W. Wait, Marshall University; Andrew P. Nichols, Marshall University; Wael A. Zatar, Marshall University

Tagged Divisions

International

be useful to understand the Page 22.353.10existing learning pathways that students are prone to employ (e.g., Auditory).  It is likely that cultural influences shape students’ preferred learning styles in regions beyond theMiddle East and the United States, and thus the results of this study can be used to support theidea that where instructor and student come from different cultural environments, there may bethe need to reflect on differences in preferred learning styles and the proportion of students invarious learning style categories, and how to best respond to these differences in order toenhance student learning.Bibliography1. Fleming

Conference Session

Evolving Engineering Libraries: Services, Spaces, and Collections

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jody T. Hoesly, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Anne C. Glorioso, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Libraries

time the pull list was created, librarians would batch modify thestatus of that pull list so that no indivudual work needed to be done to change the status of thosevolumes. Students would take the pull list, fill a cart, go back to the processing area, box theitems and label the boxes. Here is an example of a monograph work order for sendingmonographs to dim storage: Page 22.417.15VERIFICATIONSince we relied on student help to pull and process the majority of materials, we devised aprocess in which librarians would verify item status and make sure the items were properlyreflected in the catalog (or not reflected, as in most cases). Verification

Conference Session

Objectives, Assessment, and Methods for Teaching Technological Literacy

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Macho, Buffalo State College; Su Wang, China National Institute for Educational Research

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

instruction. To meet these goals and objectives a workshop plan was created. The plan was tocombine lectures and hands on activities. Dr Macho provided the lectures and Michael Bastonilead the hands-on portions. The intention was to immediately reinforce the ideas presented in thelectures with tactile experiences, and then reflect on those experiences. The content of thelectures were the design methods described in American Society for Engineering Education(ASEE) paper A Functional K-12 Conceptual Framework for Teaching Technological Literacy 1.The hands-on experiences were centered on design challenges using Totally Trebuchet kits fromGears Educational Systems, LLC.Method The method of gathering data was a mixed design of quantitative

Conference Session

Developing Systems Engineering Curriculum, Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alice F. Squires, Stevens Institute of Technology; David H. Olwell, Naval Postgraduate School ; Timothy L.J. Ferris, University of South Australia; Nicole A.C. Hutchison; Arthur Pyster, Stevens Institute of Technology; Stephanie Enck, Naval Postgraduate School

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering

continuous improvement process for the curriculum. Assessments can eitherindirect or direct measures of student achievement; direct measures are preferred.SE Graduate Program Alignment with GRCSEA program that adopts or chooses to align with GRCSE will go through several phases. Thesephases reflect the maturity of the program, from the initial planning through to a matureprogram. Existing programs will align to GRCSE in varying degree. To aid universities indetermining the degree of alignment, assessment rubrics are provided in Table 2. Theassessment categories can also be used to provide a basis for program improvement. Forexample, a program can use the categories initial, emerging, developed, and highly developed, asa basis to develop a strategy

Conference Session

FPD I: Attacking the Problems of Retention in the First Year

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arturo A Fuentes, University of Texas, Pan American; Horacio Vasquez, University of Texas, Pan American; Robert A. Freeman, University of Texas, Pan American

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

and desired knowledge outcomes are described here. This step also allows forpre-assessment and serves as a benchmark for self-assessment in the Reflect Back step.Challenge 1 (shown in Figure 1)The first challenge is a lower difficulty level problem dealing with the topic. The student isprovided with information needed to understand the challenge. The steps shown below representthe remainder of the cycle, which prepares the students to complete the challenge. Note thatformative instructional events can and probably should occur in each step of the cycle. Thefollowing LC steps are to motivate and engage the students:  Generate ideas: Students are asked to generate a list of issues and answers that they think are relevant to the

Conference Session

SE Capstone Design Projects, Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David R. Jacques, Air Force Institute of Technology; John M. Colombi, Air Force Institute of Technology; Richard G. Cobb, Air Force Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering, Systems Engineering

curriculum elements, and this benefit can extend beyondthose students directly associated with the SE capstone projects. The program has received positivefeedback from most of the graduates that have participated on these projects, and the influence ofthe SE program has grown far beyond the number of students entering the graduate school forSE.Introduction The US Department of Defense (DoD) is facing major challenges associated with theirScience, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce. This problem goes beyond theneeds of the core acquisition workforce that comprise only 40% of the overall STEMworkforce1, and in fact is a reflection of shortages of engineers throughout defense industries and

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Technical Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brittany Lynn Luken, Georgia Institute of Technology; Susan L. Hotle, Georgia Institute of Technology; Meltem Alemdar, Georgia Institute of Technology; Laurie Anne Garrow, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

tochange their business plan, before a second year of simulation was run. Again, each airline wasgiven their ranking and their profit/loss statement after the second year of simulation.Each group was required to produce several deliverables. First, the groups were required todocument their business decisions. Groups were then asked to reflect on how they did after ayear of simulation. In instances in which groups succeeded at making a profit, they were askedto comment on why they thought they were successful. In instances in which groups were not assuccessful, they were asked to comment on what they thought could have hindered their abilityto make a profit. Groups were then asked to document any changes they made before the secondyear of

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Technical Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Magdalini Z. Lagoudas, Texas A&M University; Bugrahan Yalvac, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

not effective to keep students’ interest in their majors. This is particularlytrue for the engineering majors.There are efforts to cultivate more student-centered learning pedagogies in higher education(Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, 2000; McKenna, Yalvac, and Light, 2009). Transformingengineering education context from a teacher-centered orientation to a learner-centeredorientation is a common interest in engineering education research. Group work, formativeassessment, contextualized instruction, use of peer review and self-reflective tools, and out-ofclass collaborations are some learning-centered instructional strategies (Bransford, Brown, andCocking, 2000; Yalvac, Smith, Hirsch, and Troy, 2007; Yalvac, Smith, Hirsch, & Birol, 2006

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching: Mechanics

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David B. Lanning, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

, unfortunately, and this is reflected in the rather highrate of mistakes per student.It is ill-advised to draw firm conclusions on the effect of this prerequisite skills testing on finalexam outcomes; however, from this simple analysis there is unfortunately no apparent trend thatshows students achieving a higher level of competency. Page 22.88.8Qualitative evaluationWhile the meager analysis above does not show an obvious quantitative benefit to students, theauthor nevertheless believes there are certain qualitative benefits to administering the PSE,which compel him to continue administering the exam in solid mechanics. First, many studentscome to the

Conference Session

Making Students Aware of Their World: Five Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Warren N. Waggenspack Jr., Louisiana State University; Warren R. Hull, Louisiana State University; David Bowles, Louisiana State University; Sarah Liggett, Louisiana State University; Stephen O. Sears, Louisiana State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

American Society for Engineering Education. Austin, TX, June, 2009.21. Downey, Gary Lee, Juan C. Lucena, Barbara M. Moskal, Rosamond Parkhurst, Thomas Bigley, Chris Hays, Brent K. Jesiek, Liam Kelly, Johson Miller, Sharon Ruff, Jane L. Lehr, and Amy Nichols-Belo, “The Globally Competent Engineer: Working Effectively with People Who Define Problems Differently,” Journal of Engineering Education, April 2006.22. Carlsen, Christopher R, “Reflection #2,” Globalhub, Page 22.131.12 http://globalhub.org/members/3531/blog/2010/8/reflection-2---carlsen, August 4, 2010, Accessed March 7, 2011.

Conference Session

Technological Literacy

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Krupczak, Hope College; Lauren Aprill; Mani Mina, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

and reflect on the how it might work. Faraday’s law and examples ofsome applications are discussed. Students then examine the ring thrower from the point of viewof Lenz’s law. Next students are given a copper pipe and a very strong magnet that fits insidethe pipe. When the magnet is dropped inside the pipe it falls more slowly than a magnet fallingthrough a non-conducting pipe. This difference is to the magnetic field caused by the currentinduced in the pipe by the field of the falling magnet. Students are asked to explain the reasonfor the slower rate of falling. The principle is the same as the ring throwing device but this notrevealed to the students initially. Figures 9 and 10 are photographs of these two devices.Figure 11 shows a sample

Collection

2011 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

David Che; David Clark; Tom Magnone

becoming an important part of theengineering profession.To help students understand the global aspects of manufacturing, we asked them to read ThomasFriedman’s ―The World is Flat‖9 and journal their response to it. Towards the end of thesemester, each student was then required to give a presentation and write a reflective paper onthe topic. Since Friedman is a proponent of globalization, we needed an opposing view to helpour students see both sides of the issue. Proceedings of the 2011 Midwest Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education 5 Figure 1 Business model of a modern manufacturing

Collection

2011 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

S. Jimmy Gandhi; Michael McShane

Definition Anthony Giddens (Former Globalization can be defined as the intensification of worldwide social relationsDirector of London School of which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by Economics) events occurring many miles away and vice versa. The concept of globalization reflects the sense of an immense enlargement ofFredric Jameson (Professor of world communication, as well as of the horizon of a world market, both of which Literature, Duke University) seem far more tangible and immediate than in earlier stages of modernity

Conference Session

Core Concepts, Standards, and Policy in K-12 Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Johannes Strobel, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Ronald L. Carr, Purdue University; Nilson E. Martinez-Lopez, Purdue University; Jose Daniel Bravo, INSPIRE

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

currently found in major standards documents as well as what may be missing." (2)   In 2008, Brophy et al. reflected the direction of the engineering community whencreating the widely cited report, “Advancing Engineering Education in P-12 Classrooms,” byoutlining a path for further integration of engineering into the science, technology, engineering,and math (STEM) curricula. The report summarized efforts in P-12 engineering being made atthe time then and took a look forward to the prospects of the spread of engineering education. Inaddition to its own call for the creation of standards, the Brophy report discusses efforts by theAmerican Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) at promoting standards-based instructionin P-12 engineering (11

Conference Session

Engineering as the STEM Glue

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mitchell J. Nathan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Candace Walkington, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Rachaya Srisurichan, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Martha W. Alibali

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

spends an entire introductory lesson planning the labwork for the rest of the week. Teachers and students use the verbalizations and gestures ofprojection, along with representations, objects, and the environment itself, both to reflect upon ahistory of a concept as it unfolds in their classroom, and to plan for future manifestations of theconcept in different modal engagements. Ecological shifts – common as they appear to be –make it challenging for participants to preserve a sense of the cohesion and continuity of themathematical ideas. Projections serve to construct connections over time and help to establishthat sense of cohesion for students.A third transition process is coordination, which involves the juxtaposition and linking ofdifferent

Collection

2011 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

lecture and do not participate in team meetings nor inconflict resolution sessions. This infrequent participation can lead to a lack of understanding ofthe projects the students are working on and of the communication and conflict-resolution needsof these students. Also of note, the COM instructor does not co-create lectures and othermaterials in conjunction with the AE instructor and thus their lectures may not reflect thespecific needs of these specific students in this specific senior design course; furthermore, therequirements stated in the COM instructor's lecture may be at odds with the requirements held bythe AE instructor, potentially leading to conflicts between the instructors themselves when it istime to assign grades to student

Conference Session

First-Year Activities and Peer Review Strategies in Civil Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

to the Three Gorges Dam in China. In that way, all students were required to thinkabout an international project to some degree. This was another suitable model to teach studentsabout globalization. The older Three Gorges Dam assignments were no longer available forcontent analysis as part of this research. Final Reflective EssaysIn the first part of the final essay assignment, students were required to write about oneprofessional society meeting (such as ASCE, AGC, SWE, etc.) or professional developmentactivity (such as the career fair, design expo, civil engineering graduate seminar) that they hadattended during the semester. Of these options, EWB represents the opportunity that is the mostobviously global in nature. The percentages

Conference Session

Global Engineering Models: Curriculum Development, Improvements, and Partnerships

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jian Yu, Auburn University and Tsinghua University, China; Chetan S. Sankar, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

International

all the questions are more than 4. The results are favorable andindicate that the LITEE Workshops were acceptable to the participants and were perceived tobe beneficial. We used SPSS 10.0 to do principal analysis. Through factor analysis, in the RotatedComponent Matrix as the Table 2 shows, there are 3 Components that are abbreviated Ci(i=1, 2, 3). C1 includes 29 VARs that are VAR 8-36, which can be called “Expectations toMIS” because from the meanings of these questions they reflect the expectations to MIS andhope to improve the skills from the learning of MIS; C2 includes 4 VARs that are VAR 2, 3,5, 6, which can be called “Attitude to MIS ” for the four questions show the perception oflearners about learning MIS and imply the difficulty

Conference Session

Reports from ADVANCE Institutions

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marisol Mercado Santiago, Purdue University; Alice L. Pawley, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Jordana Hoegh, Purdue University; Dina Banerjee, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

system comprised of these structures: ―And, if enoughpeople or even a few people who are powerful enough act in innovative ways, their action mayhave the consequence of transforming the very structures that gave them the capacity to act‖ (p.4).17The research question we focus in this paper is: how do institutionally generated texts shapeSTEM faculty and staff members’ experiences in ways that prescribe their ways of being? Theparental leave policy is our main social system, situated along with the other systems that worktogether with it (such as FMLA, sick leave, unpaid leave, etc.). These systems seem to be rigid,but actually they reflect a series of processes in a state of change.As an example, Kirby and Krone11 conducted a discursive study of